Earlier this month, ArenaFan reported that an announcement was expected in September about the future of the AFL and it's member teams, with select members being very ~cryptic~ & not responding to inquiries about commitment to playing in the AFL in 2025. The Billing Outlaws quickly fueled the speculation a mere 20 minutes after it was posted, when they swiftly quote tweeted the initial report and said the following:
Noticeably, they mention they will be playing football in 2025... but don't mention the AFL.
Outlaws owner Steve Titus has been very vocal and transparent with things that transpired throughout the treacherous 2024 AFL season -- so to see them be this mum on the matter of their league was interesting.
A short time later, ArenaFan follows up with update:
Huh. Current AFL teams returning under a new banner, but still playing Arena Football rules. There's a quite a bit to unpack here.
"Under a New Banner"
Is this implying the simple creation of a new league entirely, essentially abandoning the AFL brand after the Lee Hutton kerfuffle from this year? It's understandable that they would want to distance itself from the potential legal ramifications that are sure to come down the pipeline towards Hutton & co. Start off with a clean slate, I get it.
But so much emphasis from the Arena Football community and its talking heads all year has been about the "AFL brand" and it being so strong compared to other leagues. You dispose of the AFL brand, there is an entirely new uphill battle ahead of them.
But to that point, did the way that 2024 went down destroy whatever AFL brand value was left? We have AFL 1.0 that had a great run (and is the source of nostalgia for the majority of Arena football fans that are in their 30s and older) -- but ran into money issues in 2009.
AFL 2.0 tried to pick up where it left off, but slowly fell apart over the course of the 2010s -- eventually becoming a 4-team league in 2019 before filing for bankruptcy.
AFL 3.0 started back up this year and if you don't know the story and weren't in the mud with us as it was all going down in real time (bless your heart), go check out Arena Insider's multi-part docuseries that breaks it all down:
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me thrice? Well damn it I guess we should have seen it coming, huh. Maybe a fresh start is the move, but building the brand of this new league is going to be a challenge.
"But still playing Arena Football rules"
Well, this certainly doesn't tell us much. To me, Arena Football rules are original Ironman football rules with rebounding nets. But the Ironman rules were discontinued in AFL 2.0 and was a major selling point of AFL 3.0 in 2024 -- but quickly fell apart when teams decided, "Hey you know what, we just don't want to do Ironman football anymore" --- so it just kinda.. stopped.
I seriously doubt we see Ironman football in this "new banner" that is to be announced, simply due to the physical toll it takes on the players -- and truthfully I don't see the league being able to afford to pay the players what they would deserve to make playing two way ball. But that leads me to believe that the primary rules they are referring to when they say 'Arena Football rules' are:
Rebounding nets
One high motion man
Jack LB rules
There are plenty of Arena football oldheads and AFL purists that live and die by Arena rules - so this announcement must have been music to their ears. But we'll have to wait and see the extent of what they mean by 'Arena Football rules'.
But the most intriguing part of this announcement to me is what direction they will take if they indeed choose to ditch the AFL name, start a 'new league' and potentially leave G6 holding the bag on the AFL branding rights & Hutton on the hook for years of class action lawsuits from players, coaches, arenas and third parties he screwed over.
How creative will they get with their league name? There is already a 'National Arena League' and we know that 'Indoor' is a dirty, dirty word for Arena football purists that they will surely stay away from. So I did what any reasonable person in 2024 would do:
I asked ChatGPT for some league name recommendations:
I personally love the PAFA -- Premier Arena Football Association. Draws inspiration from the EPL in the UK and is clean enough break from AFL while also keeping Arena Football in the name.
ChatGPT has not yet learned the disdain that some Arena fans have for the term Indoor, so please forgive our future sentient overlords for sinning with 4 recommendations that used the Ind**r word.
But 4-letter acronyms can be a little clunky. What are some 3-letter acronyms that we could work with?
NAL & UFL? Smh, ChatGPT doesn't know ball. I liked the list of 4-letter acronyms a bit better. I would anticipate that the league would do a clean break from the A_L naming convention to avoid getting group with the damaged AFL brand.
I decided to give ChatGPT a breather and do a brainstorm session of my own, and I am proud to present some of my own ideas for the potential 'new banner' for the AFL teams in 2025 -- complete with AI generated logo previews from Design.com.
CAF - Champions Arena Football
Prior to the 2024 season, the AFL merged / absorbed the CIF -- Champions Indoor Football -- which included the transition of six of those teams to this year's rendition of the AFL
The CAF name would be a solid rebrand of the two league names together — CIF & AFL. I anticipate the Billings Outlaws being an integral part of this rebrand, and they were one of those teams that came over from the CIF - so this just makes sense.
It's a simple change with a tip of the cap to the history of the teams that would hypothetically in this new league.
Catchphrase: "The CAF: Where Champions Are Made" Chills.
AAA - American Arena Association
In the era of phonebooks, you would see TONS of companies named AAA Cleaning Services, AAA Homebuilders, AAA Plumbing, etc simply because it would be listed first alphabetically in the ol' yellow pages.
Branding wise, there's a lot you can do with AAA. You could do the ol' A stacked on top of 2 As to form a pyramid. If I was better at graphic design I would try to make that a visual, but you'll have to deal with a different AI generated logo instead.
American Arena Association also just has a sophisticated feel to it too.
"Are you a league?" "Pssh, please. We are an ~Association~."
Feel like they will want to include the word 'football' in whatever league name they choose, so this one will probably stay as a pipe dream.
ALX - Arena League X
Having an X in your league name can land one of two ways
1. It comes off as edgy and innovative (i.e. XFL)
2. It comes as try hard and a little corny (i.e. X-treme!!)
But the ALX name can have some additional meaning if you want to break it down
L = Roman numeral for 50, as in the length of a regulation Arena football field
LX = Roman numeral for 60, as in the length of a regulation Arena football game
Additionally, something the league has stressed all throughout the year -- no matter who was in charge -- was focusing on the fan experience and make that a focal point for league growth in the coming years.
If you want to get into the marketing part of the name: ALX strives to provide A Legendary eXperience, which is what they hope to deliver to fans that come to their games.
Notice the bolded and italicized letters -- subtly in the details, folks
Catchphrase: “The ALX, where experiences are legendary” That's gold, Jerry!
MLAF - Major League Arena Football
Similar to the 'Premier League' that ChatGPT alluded to earlier, I could very easily see them playing into the 'Major League' naming convention as a way to differentiate itself as a unique sport.
In the US alone, you have Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, Major League Pickleball and I'm sure many more I'm forgetting
Why not Major League Arena Football?
It keeps Arena Football in the name while giving it a new start and a fresh coat of paint.
Catchphrase: “It if it isn’t major league, its the minors”
Oldhead Arena fans love throwing shade at other Arena & Indoor leagues, so they would EAT THIS UP.
MALL - Metro Arena League Legends
The AFL famously / infamously had the 2024 ArenaBowl at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey. Why not fully lean into the acronym MALL and fully embrace it?
All games played in shopping malls across the country. Really lean into the mall vibe and make it a traveling “circus”.
The Savannah Bananas have been a disruptive brand in the sports and entertainment space with their Harlem Globetrotters style of play and innovation to make baseball exciting - and MALL has the chance to do the same thing if they play their cards right.
You could do a tour in unique venues across the country and organically grow the game while working on permanent expansion franchises locations.
Catchphrase: “It’s a Brawl in the MALL every weekend”. It writes itself.
As much as I love brainstorming hypotheticals and trolling, I'm hoping for the best if the league is indeed planning to rebrand 'under a new banner'. It'll be bittersweet to see the AFL name be put to rest if they do decide to that, but it will be the right time.
AFL 1.0 - 1987-2009
AFL 2.0 - 2010-2019
AFL 3.0 - 2024-2024?
The IFL & NAL seem to be getting their act together, it's time for the AFL to do the same.
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